20 years after the floods. Prague is preparing new measures
Since 2020, nearly 20 kilometers of flood defenses have been built in Prague, from earthen embankments, concrete walls and up to the gate closing Čertovka. The projects created by the river also fulfill a protective function. Check out some of them.
This August, Prague remembers the floods that hit Prague in 2002. There are many projects connected to the river that have anti-flood functions and one of their goals is to protect the city from heavy water. However, the projects are also meant to be used for recreation. These include the Trojská kotlina, the Povltava Promenade and Štvanice Island. New connections that make it easier for the citizens of Prague to travel around the city are also essential. Check out the projects in the gallery.
“After the huge floods that hit Prague 20 years ago, we learned a lesson and tried to think about natural elements in projects. The river shapes the city, and the projects on its banks will thus fulfill a function. However, for most of the year, they have the ambition to become favorite places of Prague residents, where they can go for a walk, have a picnic or take a bath,” says Ondřej Boháč, director of the Institute of Planning and Development of the Capital City of Prague.
The municipality invested four billion in flood protection
Since the devastating floods in 2002, the Prague municipality has invested four billion crowns in the city’s flood protection. About 20 kilometers of barriers were built, gates closing the Čertovka, and a pumping station and anti-flood closures of the tributaries of this river were built at Rokytka in Libni. The city is also gradually revitalizing streams and rivers, returning previously straightened streams to their original beds.
PHOTO GALLERY: 20 years since the tragic floods in Prague. Karlín, Troja, Kampa and others ended up underwater
Policy
Five years after the tragic floods in Moravia in 1997, nature rebelled again, this time in Bohemia. Even thanks to the experience of 1997 and the measures introduced after that, there were significantly fewer victims than in Moravia, but the damage amounted to over 73 billion crowns, ten billion more than in Moravia. This weekend, it will be exactly twenty years since the then five-hundred- to thousand-year-old water culminated in Prague. Take a look in the photo gallery at the testimony of dozens of photos from the August floods in 2002, which affected a third of Bohemia, especially from south to north.
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A flood 20 years ago caused about 27 billion crowns in damage in Prague, and 50,000 residents had to be evacuated.
The city’s anti-flood measures now include, for example, earthen embankments, solid concrete walls and aluminum mobile barriers. The total length of the protection is 19.26 kilometers. Of this, 6.8 kilometers of mobile fencing is made up and its height is from 0.2 to 6.27 meters. Walls are built under all the barriers that lead down to the impervious subsoil, which in some places is up to 12 meters deep.
PHOTO GALLERY: Floods in Moravia: 25 years since the tragedy that cost 50 human lives and tens of billions
Money
The most tragic floods in modern Czech history took place in July 1997 in Moravia and Silesia. A total of 50 people died, nine of them in Troubky in Přerovsk, which became a sad symbol of the flood. Over 2,100 houses were destroyed, the damage amounted to about 63 billion crowns. Take a look in the photo gallery at the visual testimony of the ČTK photographers at the time.
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It is even more fun than before the pandemic, The New York Times praises Prague
Enjoy
After two years of anti-covid restrictions and a rapid decline in tourists, Prague has changed. It opened up to more locals, especially young people. A number of monuments were repaired and new galleries were opened, led by the Kunsthalle. Thanks to the new projects launched in 2020 and 2021, the city is even more fun than before, the prestigious newspaper The New York Times paid tribute to the Czech capital. And what are his tips for the most interesting places?
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